Wherein, I advocate for Living Wage, Maximum Wage and micro-dosing to executives thru a discussion of deconstructionism, Nietzsche's underworld man, Plato, the cave analogy (yes- a little Phil 101), the multiplier effect, economic sunken costs, bogus incentive packages, graft, bribery, semiotics and the nature of language. I'm sure it'll be a hit! Know your audience? I dont even know the locutor! Whether or not these thoughts are my own, please dismiss them with argument that wont embarrass us both! See y'all in the local commercial rag...and the dirty campaign trail! Stay Clean, Nashville, you deserve better.

How would you address Nashville's current financial footing?

Deconstruction. While we require that logic and meaning produce substantive discussion, when it comes to matters of money, there is truth, and then there is statistics. In response to legitimate requests for an accounting, the answer thus far seems to be variations on a theme of 'experts know better'. This is an appeal to authority (logically fallacious) and moreover mathematically deficient: the experts were wrong and the algorithms don't add up. Its literally a world of shadows underground and from a citizen's perspective the shadow money is hard to track. It was self-repeating until it wasn't- a Ponzi scheme built on a fantasy of perpetual monetary motion. Now bills are due, invoices cut, die cast. We're still climbing all over each other to attract new biz here with incentive schemes with a pitiful municipal and societal ROI. If we believe in the shadows, why not embrace the underworld man? The current financial footing is a manifestation of the will to power where truth is subjective, based on political authorship by economic actors, who ultimately know where the money went. Do we jail the bankers to prove a point like Iceland? Im more of a restorative justice type of guy, so I say lets talk it out and have some red hands washed clean. We don't have to be all lady Macbeth about it, but we can at least help each other out first before trying to be the cool guy with the new friends.

What would you do next to improve the city's transit system?

Open the discussion. We should embrace new ideas, new agents, even new methods of discussion. The transit debate that so moved this town was a clash of opposing marketing schema and through the haze there are ideas presented by both sides that are valid. Lets not strawman each other, here. I say we open the floor for discussion, but we need a wider arena of debate. Coming up with one option and following it up with a false dilemma branding campaign was unfortunate mostly for those of us who enjoy honest and critical debate. There are answers we can produce as a city- not as top-down heavy-handed brinkmanship. So, they worked on a plan they didn't want to deviate from. I only have a minor in Economics (University of Memphis: 2004) but i think we call that sunk costs. Anywho, the Nays carried the day and we gt a chance to revisit the topic, so lets do it altogether! Let the artists devise traffic-calming measures; let's reclaim some streets for people, walking/biking, not cars (like Deaderick from public square to public plaza); let anyone present an idea with their own backing- no matter how wild, like air trams (telefericos are ubiquitous in South America because they actually work!), intermediate buses (not one size meets all), provide more biking options county-wide, challenge preconceived notions and dismiss arguments on their merit not because of tradition or prejudice. Open the discussion to get buy-in.

What, if anything, do you think the city should do to be more business friendly?

My goodness, I feel like this question is a set-up! But I'll bite in the interest of good conversation. If we want to converse, we must define our terms- (I've said this in pretty much everything Ive written during this campaign because its so important.) Im just hearkening back to Plato, to Voltaire and trying (pitifully Im sure) to apply a modern semiotic structuralism. We exist in the interplay of language and in this case, it's important to distinguish types of business. I believe the city is sufficiently friendly to large businesses: they receive incentive packages and plenty of soft subsidies, that often don't even pan out to their promoted Multiplier effect- its a sham. The real bang for the buck should be making it easier for small biz to operate. However, due to the disparate nature of that demographic, the difficulty of a finding an advocating rep compounds the problem (Ill tip my hat to SBA efforts, while wanting better execution). In order to promote small biz initiatives, I would like to propose first a Living Wage- so many small biz emerges from the already employed but envision a new innovative disruptive model- make sure they have enough to live in this town as well as enough to forge their own path. Secondly, Id like to propose a Maximum Wage (of 50:1 - exec:median pay)- yes I said it. In order to fund new programs we need some accountability: disagreement must include explanation of executive compensation (which has skyrocketed to unsustainable levels) and how that executive is more than 50 times the worth of their median employee. Combating negligent income equality thru flagrant exacerbaters, like outlandish exec compensation is one proposal. If we're talking pumping money into the economy, the multiplier effect works best when applied in small applications, not through corporate bribery with checks cut from general funds. So lets try some micro-dosing.